The Well Open House ~ Three Years

Yesterday I woke up early and hit the floor running - and it was three years since Mike died.  I had to mow the lawn, it had finally been dry long enough for the lawn to dry out.  I putzed (sp?) around until 8:00 before starting to mow the backyard with fresh wasp spray in hand to take care of any snake that may show its face - luckily I didn't have to use it.  When I moved to the front yard the mower wouldn't start - to say I was irked is an understatement.

Then I thought about the little black squirrel that had been living in my neighbor's yard and/or the park across the street - had he made it through the winter?  I'd been wondering about him several times this spring.  So I started looking at the park across the street and saw a brown squirrel.  Then what do my wondering eyes see - the black squirrel!  I was so excited that I walked across the street and wondered how close I could get to him.  I got within feet of him, gently talking to him telling him how glad I was to see that he made it through another winter.  Then he scurried up a tree.  I was so excited that God had let me see him.

Back to my mower hoping it had set long enough to start - nope.  So I said to God that He had decided I wouldn't mow the front lawn but He let me see the squirrel.  Upstairs I went to shower before getting my watch looked at.  I thought I'd have enough time to do that before getting to The Well for setup for our open house.  And with me being so busy - I wouldn't have time to visit Mike's bench yesterday.  After the open house - which ended at 5:00 - was a NASCAR night race.  It hit me in the shower that God had opened up time in my morning with not mowing my front yard that I would be able to spend that time at Mike's bench!

So I got the car washed, then remembered I'd be driving over a small portion of gravel to get to the park where Mike's bench is - I was going the "back way".  So I thought I'd drive really s-l-o-w and maybe my car wouldn't get too dirty.  I was barely moving which about drove me crazy, like 10 mph.  When I got out of my car I saw it was really dirty - poo.  But on to Mike's bench I went.  Ok for some reason I can't upload pictures - grrrr.

I spent some time "talking" to Mike telling him that is was a pretty day, hard to believe it was three years, how things were going, that I was thinking about selling the house and how I missed him but was glad he wasn't suffering any longer.  Then off on my next errand to WalMart for my watch.

We had an awesome open house at The Well.  I had hoped to include pictures of before and after but guess not.  If you want to visit Living Waters Fellowship Facebook page you can see them.  We had a lot of people stop by.  I zipped out of there to get my car washed (again) at the car wash across the street and then called Casey's that is close to me for a small/personal size pepperoni pizza as a treat.  I made it to the end of the NASCAR race but went right to bed.

This morning after a great church service I headed to Orange Leaf (an awesome yogurt place with amazing flavors and toppings) to meet a friend I worked with at the WDM PD.  We hadn't gotten together for a long time.  Then off to WalMart to buy a pitcher to replace the one I dropped this morning after getting my orange juice and it broke and spilled orange juice all over the floor.  It was made of plastic but it must have hit the floor just right to break a chunk out of the side.  At least some of my kitchen floor got washed - again I try to look at the bright side.

And while I hated to do this - mowing on the Lord's day I had to - I tried to start my mower to mow my front lawn.  Thankfully it started.  I then got my solor fountain put out in the back yard along with the dog stone I had gotten from a friend after putting Butler down last year.  I also splurged at WalMart and bought some pretty pink flowering plant to put on my plant stand on my back patio.

I then spread my snake repellent all around the back yard and front yard - we'll see how it works.  I'm hoping and praying that between that and all the hole plugging I did (ok Jon my handy guy did) with putting down all that rock last year closed up a lot of holes the snakes had been using as homes.

This coming Thursday is Tulip Time - can't believe it's time for that already.  My best friend from 7th grade and I are heading to Pella to see Dad and then enjoy Tulip Time.  Then I drop Lori off at her car and head to Indianola for my small group leader's little boy's first Wee Tee ball game - and it's also his son's birthday.  Then I may head to my tattoo guy to talk about my next tattoo.  I asked my small group leader this morning at church if he wanted to go with me to my tattoo guy after the ball game and he's like "Nooooo".  Oh well.

Three Years and More

Well last weekend I took time to pick up the sticks in the backyard and rake up the pine needles in the front yard.  I ended up with two lawn bags full!  I don't have a very big backyard but it had a TON of sticks.  At about a bag and a half I was pretty tired of bending over - oh ya and had my wasp spray in my left hand at the ready to spray any snakes that might have appeared.  So I'd look at the stick and think, "the mower can break that up."  The longer I did that, the bigger the sticks got that I thought my mower could handle.....

 

With all the rain, the park next door had a "pond" the other day and two geese were in the pond enjoying themselves.  It cracked me up.  I tried to get a picture but they were too far away to see the geese in it.

 

I have decided on my next/third tattoo.  Dad is helping me get something for it and hopefully in May or June I'll get it done :)

 

An important lesson I learned:  body spray and my pump hair spray are not the same thing - just because they both are in pump/spray bottles - again they are not the same.  I realized that after using my hair spray as body spray......down the inside of my top that day.

 

I spent Friday night and most of the day Saturday at a womens' conference with the four churches that belong in our network.  It was held at Saylorville Baptist - our mother church.  It was Choosing Joy and really good.

 

Friday when I left for work, I didn't get home until after going to WalMart after the conference.  I walked into the basement from my tuck-under garage and smelled something bad in the basement.  It smelled like sewer gas, or rotten eggs, or basically crap.  I didn't think much about it until I got all the way upstairs in my bedroom and I could still really smell it.  So I called the power company and they would dispatch their next repair guy.  So instead of putting on my p.j.'s I was putting on my sweats, winter coat, gloves and scarf to "evacuate" my house to wait for the repair guy.  No where to go, it was COLD and I had about a 20 minute wait - which really wasn't that bad.  The picture below shows how "lovely" I looked. 

 

Now as I evacuated I chuckled to myself thinking I was finally heeding my small group leader's advice.  I asked Rob who I would be able to call in the middle of the night in case - say I heard water running.  Rob said I could call him but all he'd tell me to do was to evacuate.........  Such a help.

 

And someone commented on Facebook after I posted my picture that I needed to smile.  I'm like I was just thankful I got the picture taken.

 

So the repair guy drives right by me.......  As he got out of the truck and came closer I realized he'd been in the house before for a smell problem and he looked at me and said, "I've been in your house before."  The minute he stepped in the front door he said, "sewer gas".  Which is what I thought it was but wasn't 100% positive.  We headed to the basement, he confirmed sewer gas again but did check for any gas leaks.  I put water down the drain and thanked him for coming out.  About a half hour later the smell was gone.

 

 

It was finally time that I could upgrade my cell phone so after the conference yesterday, off to the Verizon store I headed and ended up with a Razor that is awesome!  Faster phone, bigger screen, voice recognition and more - yowza.  Grant had helped me two weeks ago before I could upgrade so I asked for him again.  He was just finishing up with a customer and mentioned his dad had just retired from the Urbandale Police Department.  When he started to help me I asked what his dad's name was.  I recognized it. I asked him to check with his dad to see if he remembered a Mike McFall on the reserve unit several years ago because Mike had been my husband.  I have a hard time referring to Mike as my late husband.

 

I picked up Papa Murphy's cheese bread for supper last night and two movies.  "Zero Dark Thirty" and "P.S. I Love You".  Zero Dark is about gathering information and then the Seal Six Team that killed Osama Bin Laden.  It was good - very slow the first part but that's how it really is trying to locate someone that has been in hiding many years.

 

P.S. was about a young couple that the husband died at 35 from a brain tumor - at the beginning of the movie.  People had warned me to have a box of Kleenex handy.  I ended up only using two Kleenex - at the end.  I figured it was because I already knew what the main character was feeling so it didn't make me sad - but women watching the movie that still had their husbands it would tear them apart thinking about their husband dying.  But I did cry at the end when she said that she "thought Gerry was finally gone".  Throughout the movie you'd see how she would talk to Gerry (the actor playing Gerry would be in the scene).  I don't think about having an actual conversation with Mike but one thing I still can "feel" is when I lay on my side in bed with what would have been my back to him.  Mike would be on his back so he'd put his hand on my side so we were touching.  I can still feel that.

 

This coming Saturday will be an interesting day for me.  First it is the open house for The Well - the building my church has been working on for almost two years.  The pastors moved into their offices this past week.  The office manager is working out of it too - awesome!  So many great opportunities for this building.

 

But Saturday (4/27) is also the third anniversary of Mike's death.  Three years - doesn't seem possible.  But God is good.  I spent the evening of my unanniversary with the ladies group from church and I'm spending the third anniversary of his passing with my church family working the open house.

 

The picture below is my profile pix of my Facebook account for this month.  It shows my two guys :)

 



Dodgeball ~ Third Unanniversary ~ Bloodshed

So Friday night one of the families in my small group rented a gym so we could play Dodgeball.  The gym was on SE 6th Street and I didn't realize that SE 5th turned into SE 6th.  So I'm driving up and down and turning around for like five minutes before I understood what DeVon was trying to explain to me on the phone.....  I figured if I turned around and slowly drove by those two blocks one more time they'd be calling the police to figure out what that "crazy lady" in the black Corolla was doing in their neighborhood.

 

Well, the games began with a gusto and I believe I was the oldest person there (heavy sigh) but that didn't stop me from trying to take out any of the guys (guys vs gals) or any of the little boys that are in the Waves group I help teach on Sundays.  One dad was telling his son to "hit Miss Roni" - too cute.  It wasn't until last night when I got out of the car around 6:20 pm that I realized I was starting to "feel" Dodgeball in the front of my upper legs and it takes me a while to get up from a sitting position.  Right now I'm on the floor and I'll have to crawl to the bed to lean on it to stand up :)

 

Yesterday would have been our 29th wedding anniversary (we made it 26 years with three weeks to spare).  So it was my third unanniversary instead.  I started the day at 7:00 a.m. and didn't stop until 11:00 p.m.  Got my hair cut so the natural wave/curl is working and it looks pretty good.  I think it's a little "heavy" on the top and will be going back to get some trimmed off later this week - but I've gotten a lot of compliments.

 

I've been going to this guy for over four years and first thing he does is grab my bangs and says "what's up with this?"  I'm like, "I cut them".  He's like "at  least you can cut a straight line".  The sad thing was I was trying to cut them at an angle.....  I've noticed that I have lost a ton of hair each time I wash my hair so I asked David if he found any bare spots.  Nope - David informed me that I was just shedding.  I looked at him.  Evidently we always shed the same amount of hair but when you stay inside in the winter you notice it more.  When you are outdoors more - it blows away, etc.  So I said I was like a dog "blowing it's winter coat huh?"  Yep.

 

I was on a quest for a sound machine to use when I quit using the humidifier at night.  Without the humidifier it would be deathly quiet in the house - too quiet to sleep.  So I was on the hunt for a sound machine to make wave noises.  I asked at Target in the electronics department and the guy showed me a $35 clock radio/sound machine.  I'm thinking I don't really need a clock radio.  He then takes me to the infant department and viola - this is my new sound machine.



 

 

Ok - I cracked up when the Sleep Sheep had it's own story book.  I can listen to raindrops, water, waves, or whale sounds for either 15 or 45 minutes.  Then it shuts off.  I'm not sure about it - went through 3 - 45 minute sets of waves last night.....  What was really funny was I saw the Sleep Sheep on my lead pastor's baby girl's car seat/carrier deal.

 

I really liked the movie "Olympus is Down" so I decided I'd see it again - off to Jordan Creek to kill some time.  I walked by a place that did foot massages - not pedicures - foot massages and I thought I'd treat myself to one.  I walk in and specifically ask if I can write a check and was told "yes"...remember this for later.  I found out last Sunday when I was online with my bank that my bank card had been compromised and it was immediately cancelled.  I've yet to receive the replacement bank card, so I had to write checks all yesterday.  I hardly write any checks anymore.

 

So the guy brings the barrel thing for me to soak my feet and I have to roll my jean legs up past my knees - ok.  It wasn't until about five minutes in that I realized I haven't shaved my legs for like two weeks and have some nice trees growing - and this guy is massaging my lower legs too.  For just a split second I was a little concerned and then thought that's his tough luck to have to deal with that - I'm really enjoying being pampered.  Now when he finished with each foot he started slapping the bottom of them - that was interesting......  After that 30 minute massage I decided to do a 15 minute chair massage.  I go to pay - starting to write my check and he says "no, no checks."  I look at him and said that I had specifically asked if I could write a check before we started and he had said yes.  Nope - cash or bank card.  Luckily I had EXACTLY the amount of cash in my wallet to pay for the massages but no tip for him.

 

I zip down to the movie theater and knew I had a gift card in my wallet with like $17 left on it.  The girl swipes the gift card and no balance on it.  Ok - I have another bank card tied to a small savings account and gave it to her to swipe - no longer active.  I look at her and said, "you don't take checks do you".  Nope.  Off to Champs restaurant I go saying I have a weird favor to ask.  Explain about all my cash going to the massage guy, my bank card compromised and waiting for my new bank card and could I write a check for $20 to get cash to go to the movie.  They weren't sure but they would check with their manager.  Nope - don't accept checks.  I thanked them for checking.  Off to Delia's clothing store to repeat the situation.  Again - don't acccept checks.  I thought out loud with the gal from Delia's, "if I buy a gift card to the mall would they accept it at the movie theater?"  She wasn't sure but thought it was worth a try.  Off to the information booth I go and explain everything - again.  Yes...a mall gift card can be used at the movie theater!!!!!!!  I start to write a check for a $20 gift card and was told "they don't accept checks."  I just looked at them.  So dejectedly I walk back to the movie theater and remembered I had a credit card in my wallet I hadn't used in over two years.  I walk back to the girl that had tried to help me about ten minutes earlier and she wanted to know what movie I wanted to see.........I thought, "you just tried to help me ten minutes ago - my hair is wildly crazy and you can't remember what movie I wanted to see?"  Yowza.  So I calmly said "Olympus Has Fallen please."

 

So after thoroughly enjoying my movie again I headed to WalMart and then home to get ready for our women's group that was meeting at 6:30 pm.  Normally we meet the first Wed of the month one month - the next month the men meet the first Wed - then the next month the women meet, yada yada yada.  We had some good fellowship, Casey's pizza (nom nom nom), two testimonies and then a group game.  Awesome evening and way to end my unanniversary.

 

Today was our Sunday to teach Waves and it was "interesting".  We learned about Pharoah being mean to the Israelities with making them make bricks without straw, etc.  So our first activity was to have the kids make two paper airplanes.  None of the kids knew how to make a paper airplane - not even any of the boys.  So Miss Roni demonstrated how to make a paper airplane.  That was a little too detailed for most of them so basically Mr Jim and I said to fold the paper in half, turn down the two corners and that would be fine.  Then we flew the paper airplanes all over.  Then instead of giving them the paper - they had to go get their pieces of paper off the floor (like the Israelities getting their own straw for the bricks) but only give them the same amount of time as they had when they made the two planes when the paper was given to them.

 

Then Mr Jim took the kids to the other end of our area for the next activity - so this is the group below.  

 

Then more paper given out to make their own "brick", imagine a box of Kleenex.  One piece of paper was folded into thirds like a letter and we had to cut a hold in the top.  The other sheet of paper was folded "the other way - not the way they folded the paper for their airplane" and then cut on the fold.  I forgot to tell them to open the paper back up after folding it to cut on the fold but realized this quickly enough.  So we were supposed to tape the tri-folded paper and the two half sheets together to make their brick.  Then when they had a problem they could write it on paper and place it in their brick.  Well Miss Roni kept jabbing her left index finger when she was poking through the paper to make the hole on the top.  Finally I realized blood was dripping down my finger and getting onto my left middle finger.  Luckily I had a bandaid in my wallet and mentioned I had cut myself - to which I immediately said, "it doesn't matter how old you are, always be careful with scissors" and then mentioned blood was on my middle finger.  I was actually pretty proud of myself for thinking of using my injury as an object lesson/safety lesson for the kids.  I don't know if any of them caught the "be careful with scissors" speech but they ALL had to see Miss Roni's bloody middle finger.  After the kids met up with the older kids for the end time I told Mr Jim that I was sure some lunches would be interesting with the kids saying they made paper airplanes and we saw Miss Roni's bloody finger in Waves.  Nothing about Pharoah or Moses or bricks........................  :)

 

I saw these two pix on Facebook and had to share them on my Facebook wall and in my blog.  Makes me want to get another grey........  And see, now that the weather is nicer I do more and have a reason to blog :)